The Senate passed the extension by a 72-23 vote, with 19 Democrats and four Republicans voting no, mostly over concerns the Patriot Act violates personal privacy and civil liberties.

Hours later, the House voted 250-153 to renew three parts of the counter-terrorism surveillance law. Thirty-one House Republicans joined most Democrats in opposing the extension, while 54 Democrats supported it.

The controversial Patriot Act was passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorists attacks and provided federal law enforcement officials an unprecedented expansion of powers to conduct surveillance on suspected terrorists but also snoop into personal lives of ordinary Americans.

So far reaching is the Patriot Act’s powers, that government officials can collect data about the books we check out of the library to read, details about our checking account activity, our credit card and computer usage, and roving wiretaps of telephones.

In 2005, then-Sen Obama voted NO on extending the Patriot Act’s wiretap provision but as president, Mr. Obama flip-flopped on the issue and sided with former President George W. Bush on roving wiretaps.

One wonders if just the fact of being President does something to one’s brain chemistry. I really don’t know. I do know that the office seems to bring out the worst tendencies in some people. Even people who I believe were truly good human beings deep down, like Lyndon Johnson and Harry S. Truman, find wielding the powers of the Presidency as it exists in this “superpower” too intoxicating to pass up.

How many times during the 2008 campaign did Obama say he thought the Patriot Act went too far and stepped on civil rights? More than I could count. One of the reasons I supported him over Hillary, who seemed to suggest she agreed with the damned act. What galls me is, Osama bin Laden is dead so why must regular, law-abiding citizens of the USA continue to sacrifice our rights to placate some power-hungry Washington morons like the Congress and President Obama? It makes no sense to this old Jew.

Shocking but not surprising. Obama was never a credible advocate when it comes to civil liberties. His supporters may call him a centrist-Dem until the cows come home but if you look at his voting record as a senator and his behavior as president, the person who emerges is a far-right Democrat in the Arlen Specter, Joe Lieberman tradition. All I know is, Obama in no way, shape or form represents my values.

Osama bin Laden is dead so why must law-abiding, American citizens succumb to losing our Constitutionally guaranteed rights? I’m weary of watching my rights be erased all in order to fight some nameless, faceless bogeyman on the other side of the globe.

It ain’t about us. It’s about power, privilege, and perks. A despicable piece of sh*t legislation like the Orwellian-named PATRIOT Act does a lot to ensure that we don’t get too uppity.

We have an absolutely failed political system. Just about every sitting Federal member of Congress needs to go. Replacing damn near all of them could not possibly do more harm than keeping them where they are will.

So the snooping goes on, and on, and on. Nevermind the fact that Osama bin Laden is dead and fish food, the war on Americans continues for at least another four years. My prediction is, four years from now, the congress will vote to extend the Patriot Act again and whoever is president will sign it again. It would be simpler to just burn the Bill of Rights and stop all this pretense that we’re the freest nation on earth because we’re not. The U.S. is just slightly freer than China. This is a sad day for America and to Obama, I say fuck you.

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